Mazda3

On the weekend before Thanksgiving, Bryan Jennings and myself, Max Katsarelas rented a couple of cars and took road trips. Bryan drove to Virginia Beach in a Mazda3 sedan and I went to East Lansing, Michigan in a Chevrolet Cruz. For Bryan, it would be a round trip of about 800 miles. For me, it would be a round trip of about 1700 miles. Total driving time for the two of us combined was over 40 hours.

That was a lot of time to get to know our respective cars. We broke down our reviews into five categories: gas mileage, ride comfort, review of Hertz rental agency, tech gadgetry and the overall experience. Make the jump to see the Mazda3 square off against the Chevy Cruz in the first edition of Battling Rental Cars. [keep reading]

The Detroit News reported the price of gas is dropping (down 3.5% from a year ago) and that is causing the price of small cars to drop too. According to the article, the average price of gas is about $3.71 and if prices stay below $4.00, car shoppers will buy trucks, SUVs and minivans. Even though used car prices are at record highs because of inventory shortages, their prices will decline if gas prices do, in fact, remain stable.